Playoff fantasy football strategy.
Who to use, who to save.

In a one-and-done playoff league you start eight players a round for four rounds, and you can use each player only once. That's 32 starts from a player pool that gets smaller every week.

The strategy is deciding when to start each player.

Create a League

Three things shape every pick.

Know these before you set a lineup.

The pool shrinks

Twelve teams play on Wild Card weekend, eight in the Divisional round, four in the Conference Championships and two in the Super Bowl.

Every round, the losing teams' players leave the pool for good.

Count what you need

Over four rounds you'll start 4 quarterbacks, 8 running backs, 8 wide receivers, 4 tight ends, 4 kickers and 4 defenses.

No repeats.

The Super Bowl squeeze

The last lineup is eight starters from two teams. Only two starting quarterbacks are still playing.

If you've already used both, you're starting a backup.

Wild Card weekend: the players who won't be back

Six games, twelve teams, and six of those teams are finished by the end of the weekend. A star on a team you expect to lose is worth the most right now, because this is the only round you can start him.

That's one way to play it, not the only one. Sometimes it matters more to get the player who explodes and scores more points than anybody else, whichever team he's on.

The top seed in each conference has a bye, so its players can't be picked yet.

Divisional round: the bye teams arrive

Two rested teams join the player pool, and nobody in your league has used any of their players. Eight teams play. Ask the same question as last week: who is probably going home?

Conference Championships: start counting

Four teams are left. You need eight starters you haven't used now, and eight more next round from the two teams that win.

Before you set this lineup, look at what you'd have left for each Super Bowl matchup that could happen.

The Super Bowl: whoever you saved

Two teams. One quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker and a defense. The members who planned for it have a real starter in every spot. Everyone else is digging.

Pro tip: to make sure you have a starter at every position in the Super Bowl, think about which conference your picks come from in the earlier rounds.

Start him now or save him?

Points count the same in every round. Thirty points on Wild Card weekend help you exactly as much as thirty in the Super Bowl.

Saving a player only pays off if his team keeps winning. If they lose before you use him, you got nothing. So start the players on teams you think will lose, save from the one or two teams you're most sure about, and don't save more than the last lineup can hold.

Everyone can pick the same player

Nobody owns any players, so your whole league can start the same quarterback in the same round. You gain ground two ways: by being right about a player the rest of the league skipped, or by still having a star they've already used.

Kickers and defenses run out too

The once-only rule covers every spot in the lineup. You need four kickers and four defenses, and it's easy to start the best defense in the first round without thinking about it.

Set it before the first kickoff

In a playoff league the whole lineup locks when the first game of the round kicks off. You can't wait for Saturday's results and then change your Sunday players.

New to the game? Start with how to play playoff fantasy football. The playoff fantasy football page covers the format, and one and done explains the rule behind all of this.

Strategy questions.

Who should I start on Wild Card weekend in a one-and-done league?

Lean toward good players on teams you expect to lose. Six of the twelve teams are done after Wild Card weekend, and this is the only round you can use their players.

Should I save my best players for the Super Bowl?

Save a few, not all of them. Points count the same in every round, and a saved player is worth nothing if his team loses before you use him. The Super Bowl lineup has only eight spots, from two teams.

Can I pick players from a team on a bye?

No. The two teams with a first-round bye aren't in the Wild Card player pool. They join in the Divisional round.

How many quarterbacks do I need for a one-and-done playoff league?

Four, one for each round. Over the four rounds you'll also start eight running backs, eight wide receivers, four tight ends, four kickers and four defenses, with no repeats. But you don't need to pick them all at the beginning. You pick them one week at a time.

Does the same strategy work in the regular season?

It's similar. You're still managing who you start and when, but the stress moves to a different position. There are 32 quarterbacks to pick from and you only need 16, so the question isn't whether you'll have a quarterback at the end. It's about the 16 you picked: did you start each one on his best day? And the worry isn't running out of defenses. It's running out of running backs.

Put it to work.

Create a playoff league, invite as many people as you like, and set your first lineup before Wild Card weekend.